France arrests Rwanda war crimes suspect

A man wanted in Rwanda for war crimes, including genocide, has been arrested in France.

Tito Barahira, a former mayor of Kabarondo town in eastern Rwanda, was arrested in the southern French city of Toulouse last month.

The Kigali-based New Times newspaper Sunday quoted the head of a Paris-based genocide survivors’ advocacy group, Alain Gauthier, as saying Interpol had confirmed Barahira’s arrest.

During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, radical Hutus killed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Prosecutors in Kigali have indicted Barahira for involvement in the massacres in his area and issued an international arrest warrant for him.

John Bosco Siboyintore, the acting head of Rwanda’s Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit, welcomed the arrest and expressed hope it will be followed by others.

The New Times report says Barahira has been accused of organizing and participating in the killing of thousands of Tutsis who were fleeing the killings to Tanzania.

He allegedly organized and participated in the April 13, 1994 killing of Tutsis who had taken refuge at a Kabarondo church. voa